


Pupdates

by baeconandeggs, exobubz



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Dogs, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 00:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19161907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeconandeggs/pseuds/baeconandeggs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/exobubz/pseuds/exobubz
Summary: Baekhyun’s just a weird barista with a cute corgi and Chanyeol basically ghosted him.





	Pupdates

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xiukaiho](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiukaiho/gifts).



> **Recipient:** xiukaiho  
>  **Disclaimer: baeconandeggs/the mods is/are not the author/s of this story. Authors will be credited and tagged after reveals.** The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
>   
> 
> **Author's Note:** hey hey hey! that sounded too perky but is the complete opposite of how i feel lol. my only wish is for my recipient to at least not hate this fic. i'll keep my a/n short as this fic is short as well. if you liked this, a kudos is very much appreciated and a comment is very helpful. enjoy!

Baekhyun’s over love and romance and dating and--just anything that has to do with guys. After a while, they’re all just a bunch of assholes. Jongdae once said it’s because he’s always sick with something called the “bad-boy syndrome”--whatever that was. He just figured Jongdae was trying to be a smart ass. In reality, he really  _can’t_  help the fact that his taste in men is pretty short-sighted if anything.  
  
But that all changes when he meets--well,  _sees_ \-- a guy at the dog park who he’s never really seen before. Maybe the guy’s new to the neighborhood or whatever...but fuck. He’s kinda cute. And he has a little dog.  
  
Baekhyun sees the new dog owner on the block a few more times after their first encounter… and by “encounter”, he really just means Mongryong went up to smell the little dog’s butt and Baekhyun had to pretend he didn’t just see it. Afterward, he had to lecture the corgi about embarrassing him in public, which wasn’t cool and definitely didn’t help “daddy’s first impressions”.  
  
On days when they don’t bump into the tall mystery man with a dog named “Toben”, Baekhyun finds himself wondering if the two were off at some other dog park. Or maybe Mongryong scared the little guy and his big owner away…?  
  
No. Blaming Mongryong’s stupid.  
  
The more Baekhyun thinks it through, he really doesn’t know why he finds himself thinking about the guy. If he had to judge outside appearances and everything, he definitely wasn’t Baekhyun’s  _usual_  type. Nothing about this guy says dangerous or fuck boy. It’s quite the opposite since the guy’s always wearing comfortable oversized sweaters, which makes him look all dopey and cute.  
  
But it’s not like they’ve ever spoken either. In fact, it’s kind of awkward when they’re the only two at the park and Baekhyun has to stay in his own bubble… and for what reason? Cause he’s shy around the guy?  
  
Yeah.  
  
Actually, he is.  


✿ ✿ ✿

  
  
“It’s because the only interactions you have with men are in bars, clubs, and other dark places your mom would be ashamed to know.”  
  
Baekhyun throws his roommate a glare… but goes back pouting at his cellphone screen. He’s been refreshing his social accounts for the last 30 minutes even though he knows that absolutely nothing about his timeline has changed. “So you’re saying I should say hi to him when the sun’s down. Like… in the dark.”  
  
“I’m not telling you to wait around the corner watching for him like a creep, though,” Jongdae points out. “Just say hi.”  
  
“Hi. I’m Baekhyun.”  
  
“There you go--”  
  
“My dog sniffed your dog’s butt once. Sorry.”  


✿ ✿ ✿

  
  
Baekhyun doesn’t get the chance to think about what he wants to say about the so-called “Dog Park Stranger” (as Jongdae called him), because Mongryong decides it for him. Maybe it’s because he’s tired from working at the coffee shop since five in the morning that day, or--hell. He probably wasn’t even paying as much attention to the little corgi as he should’ve, but Baekhyun finds himself accidentally bumping into the man when Mongryong jets away to greet the stranger’s poodle.  
  
Nothing registers at first, but the second Baekhyun realizes that his face actually touched the man’s arm and that the poor guy’s trying to help him regain his balance by using both of his hands to hold him up, he kind of...loses it.  
  
“Are you okay?” The guy laughs--and it’s a really nice laugh. Not a weird one. More like… soothing and cute and really, really nice.  
  
“Um…” Baekhyun feels stupid. All he can think about is how cute that laugh was, but now his brain doesn't want to work and it’s being completely stupid. “Yeah. I’m okay! Um, sorry about that. I should’ve been paying more attention and Mongryong...” He pauses.  
  
Mongryong doesn’t care. He just wants to play with the poodle pup.  
  
“Uh, he got a little excited to play with…”  
  
“Toben.” The man smiles… It’s a nice one, too. “I’m assuming that’s Mongryong?”  
  
Wow, maybe he does have a thing for the “dog park stranger”.  
  
“That’s a cute name!” Baekhyun already knew that from eavesdropping on the man talking to his dog before. Then, he realizes too late how high his voice had gotten. Quickly, he clears his throat. “Oh, but yeah. This is Mongryong.”  
  
The man offers him his hand. “I’m Chanyeol, by the way.”  
  
Baekhyun fumbles for a second before reaching out and shaking Chanyeol’s hand. “Baekhyun.”  
  
“Nice to finally meet you, Baekhyun.”  
  
“Finally…?”  
  
“I see you around here sometimes,” Chanyeol says, shrugging as the two dogs ran circles in, out and in between their legs. “I think our dogs already introduced themselves to each other already.”  
  
“Oh, yeah…” The butt incident. Shifting the conversation, Baekhyun quickly asks something that’s been on his mind for the last few weeks. “So, are you new around here? I mean, not to be rude or anything, but I didn’t recognize you the first time around and I know  _all_  of the dog parents around here.”  
  
He sounds like one of those crazy parents on the school board committee.  
  
“Just moved in recently, actually!” Chanyeol nods over to the street behind him. “My job transferred to Seoul. I was living in Tokyo for a while, but I’m glad to be back. Got a little homesick, you know?”  
  
No, Baekhyun doesn’t know. He’s never been outside of Korea, which only makes Chanyeol 100x cooler than he was before.  
  
“Oh, definitely!” Not. “I hear Tokyo’s fun, though.”  
  
“Not if you’re working with architecture,” Chanyeol laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. “It gets really hectic.”  
  
A tall, handsome architect as his little dog, Toben. There wasn’t anything cuter than that… except maybe Mongryong.  
  
“I know how that feels! It’s kind of like, uh, the morning rush hour.” Baekhyun grins. “Everyone comes in around 7 or 8 for their coffee, and it gets really busy when the line starts going out the door. It’s not really the same. I’m sure making buildings is harder than operating an espresso machine, but, I mean, it’s the same type of feeling!”  
  
Chanyeol raises a brow, cocking his head. “I’m guessing you do something with coffee?” he asks, softly.  
  
It didn’t sound condescending. Baekhyun’s surprised as how genuine it sounded, which makes him even softer because Chanyeol sounds really cool and he’s just some barista who makes really good fucking caramel macchiatos.  
  
On the bright side, maybe Chanyeol likes caramel macchiatos.  
  
“Yeah, I work at Coffee Dae’s.”  
  
It’s a pun. Jongdae says it’s a pun.  
  
It’s a fucking bad pun.  
  
“Oh, really? I stop by there on my way to work sometimes. Usually, Wednesday or Thursday mornings if I have time.”  
  
Of course, he’d get coffee on the days when Baekhyun has the closing shifts.  
  
“Well, if you come by on Monday or Tuesday morning, I can make you a drink on the house!”  
  
Jongdae would probably kill him for giving away free drinks but, then again, it was Jongdae who told him to go after the dog park stranger anyways, so technically, Baekhyun’s only doing what he’s being told to do.  
  
When Chanyeol smiles, he gets a little dimple. Baekhyun just noticed. “Really? I might just take you up on that.”  
  
Mongryong barks at Toben over a stick that Toben refuses to give back.  
  
Looking over, Baekhyun sighs before giving Chanyeol a very apologetic lopsided smile. “I guess Mongryong’s getting a little cranky. It might be time to start going home,” he says. Trotting over to Baekhyun, Mongryong forgets about the stick and obediently sits next to his owner’s feet while he’s being clipped back on the godforsaken leash. “I’ll see you soon! I work mornings except for Wednesday and Thursday, so if you want your free drink, then come on the other days.”  
  
“I’ll be sure to remember that.”  


✿ ✿ ✿

  
  
It’s been 5 days since they saw each other at the park and Baekhyun’s convinced he blew it. He really did. Chanyeol probably thinks he’s a weird loser who works at a weird coffee shop that tries to lure people in with free drinks.  
  
He also hasn’t seen Chanyeol enter the coffee shop either. Every time someone comes in, Baekhyun gets excited before being immediately let down.  
  
It convinces him that he really DID fuck up. He fucked up so badly, Chanyeol had to start going to another dog park because that’s exactly what happened.  
  
He’s just a weird barista with a cute corgi and Chanyeol basically ghosted him. By extension, Toben ghosted Mongryong, too.  
  
They’re both ghosted losers— like father like son.  
  
It makes Baekhyun so sad, Jongdae tells him to go home early on Friday. “I’m sorry, but looking at you is just SO sad.”  
  
“This is all your fault, you know.”  
  
“I know… which is why I’m asking you to go home and have some self care time.”  
  
“You just want me gone,” Baekhyun sighs, cupping his face with his hands. “I’m scaring the customers.”  
  
“No, you’re just making  _all_ of us pretty sad.” Jongdae pats him on the back. “Come back when you’re better.”  
  
“I’ve been ghosted, not diseased.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “You’re literally sending me home for being ghosted. That’s, like, against labor laws or something.”  
  
“It’s not—”  
  
“Uh, Jongdae?” Jongin, one of the employees working up front, sticks his head into the inventory storage room. “Some guy here is, um, asking for him.” He points over at Baekhyun.  
  
Caught off guard, Baekhyun presses a finger on his chest. “Me?”  
  
“Yeah, you.”  
  
Looking over at Jongdae, Baekhyun asks again, “Me?”  
  
“Well, he wasn’t pointing over at me.” Jongdae shakes his head before gesturing to the door. “Pretty sure that might be your ghost calling you.”  
  
“It’s not.” Still, Baekhyun starts wiping his hands on his apron and begins fixing his hair. “But I should check just in case.”  
  
“You never know, right?”  
  
“Yes, and that’s why I’m gonna go check. Like… right now.”  


✿ ✿ ✿

  
  
So, maybe Chanyeol didn’t ghost him or move to a different dog park just to avoid him. And maybe he’s NOT a weirdo, and Baekhyun just misunderstood everything— which he did.  
  
Seeing Chanyeol standing over on the side really did something to make Baekhyun feel all fuzzy which is stupid as fuck because he’s just some cute, dopey guy who visits the same dog park and —  
  
“Hi!” Baekhyun’s a little too perky. He tones it down a bit. “I mean, heeey…”  
  
He can hear Jongdae sigh in the back but ignores it.  
  
Chanyeol doesn’t seem to notice. “Hey! Sorry I couldn’t come by sooner.”  
  
“It’s okay! We’re pretty busy around here so I didn’t really notice.”  
  
“Oh, I see…”  
  
Fuck.  
  
“I mean, like, it wasn’t that busy. I’m exaggerating. It’s a bad habit—exaggerating, I mean.” He can’t tell if that was a good save or a shit show. “So, Anyways! That free drink I promised you, right?”  
  
Jongdae turns his head but Baekhyun ignores him again.  
  
“I don’t really mind paying for it—”  
  
“It’s on the house. Don’t worry about it.”  
  
But Jongdae worries.  
  
He worries about the bottom line all the time.  
  
Chanyeol decides to not argue about it anymore. Shrugging, he lets it pass. “Alright. If you really say so... I’ll be sure to give you guys a tip for the tip jar, though.”  
  
It’s a fair compromise, so Baekhyun smiles. “What can I get for you?”  
  
“Can I just get an iced latte? Trying to keep it simple today.”  
  
“Any special changes to it?”  
  
“Uh, can you use almond milk instead?”  
  
“Sure!”  
  
“And can I get your number?”  
  
The sound of metal measuring cups hitting the ground behind Baekhyun and Jongdae’s muffled “Shit!” gets both of their attention immediately. “Sorry, everyone! Just a little accident!”  
  
Whipping his head back to Chanyeol, Baekhyun laughs nervously as he fiddled with the cash register. “Anyways, that’ll be $3.75 for the latte and my number’s 055-7248-5076. Also, since the latte’s on the house, you can just call me. We can make a play date— for Toben and Mongryong.”  
  
“Yeah, sounds good.” Chanyeol pulls out some small bills from his wallet and puts it in the tip jar. “Sorry again. Got caught up in work.”  
  
“You don’t have to do that,” Baekhyun quickly says the second the latter drops the money in. “I get it.”  
  
Chanyeol sheepishly shrugs. “I didn’t want you thinking I was trying to be rude.”  
  
“You’re not.” Baekhyun purses his lips. “Not rude, I mean… but you’re also holding up the line, so, um, would you like your receipt?”  
  
“Oh!” Chanyeol looks to the side of him and sees that three or four people were waiting for him to finish his order--or lack thereof. “Yes. Thank you.”  
  
Nodding, Baekhyun prints out some gibberish garbage, quickly jotting down his number on the plain white side on the back before handing it over. “Your latte will be out in a minute.”  
  
“Thanks. Talk to you later?”  
  
Yes.  
  
Like… a thousand times yes.  
  
But Baekhyun doesn’t say that shit out loud. It’s too embarrassing.  
  
“If you don’t, I’ll honestly be sad,” he says, like that makes it any fucking better (which it doesn’t but who cares).  
  
It makes Chanyeeol laugh, which is enough to make Baekhyun feel happy.  
  
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he tells him, smile wide across his face. “Oh, tell Mongryong hi for me.”  
  
Baekehyun blinks for a second before he remembers he has a dog named Mongryong and that Chanyeol’s not the only pup in the world that has his attention. Duh.  
  
“Sure!” Mongryong probably doesn't’ care, but if Chanyeol wants to send his regards, then Baekhyun’s sure as hell going to deliver them to the corgi. “I’ll be sure to let him know.”  


✿ ✿ ✿

  
  
When Baekhyun gets home, Mongryong’s in the living room of the apartment, waking up from a short nap. His ears perk when Baekhyun sings his name. He’s suddenly scooped up and cradled in his owner’s arms.  
  
“Guess who has a play date with the cute puppy?” Baekhyun coos.  
  
Mongryong grunts.  
  
He doesn’t know.  
  
“You!” Baekhyun laughs as he sets the dog back down. “And, well, daddy. Not really a playdate, though. More like… Ah! Supervising  _your_  date, so it’s even more important than just a date. Remember what I told you about first impressions?”  
  
When Mongryong doesn’t respond, Baekhyun assumes that he understands anyway.  
  
“Okay, well, Jongdae says that I owe him a cup of coffee and a new measuring cup after today, so the stakes are high.” Walking over to the kitchen, Baekhyun grabs Mongryong’s bowl along the way. “But I don’t think this would’ve been possible without you, so guess who’s getting extra shredded chicken sprinkled on their kibbles today?”  
  
This time, Mongryong knows, so he barks in response.  
  
“That’s right! You~”  
  
Mongryong barks again with sparkles in his eyes when he sees Baekhyun pull out the leftover shredded chicken from the fridge.  
  
“You’re a good boy, Mongryong. If everything goes okay, you might see Toben more often.”  
  
This makes Mongryong happy…  
  
Almost as happy and excited as it makes Baekhyun just  _thinking_  about seeing Toben’s owner, too.


End file.
